Cuffbust might be my favourite game of the whole Summer Game Fest broadcast. It’s a tiny, weird little game by solo dev Gavin Eisenbeisz (Two Star Games), who you might remember from last year’s viral hit Choo Choo Charles. It’s a multiplayer extraction game about getting a pile of little koala dudes to break out of a maximum-security jail.
Banger idea, I think we can all agree.
The gameplay seems extremely chaotic, with little guys called Jailiens using whatever is handy to make their escape. The trailer depicts a full scale prison, like tripping guards over with soap, to blowing steel doors open with dynamite, stealing keycards and commandeering the security systems and PA to direct the chaos. One of them uses dynamite to blow up the loo and disappear into the sewerage tunnels.
Implements like screwdrivers can be used to get into the vents as well, and you can use spoons to tunnel through loose rock walls in an homage to The Shawshank Redemption.
There seem to be any number of avenues for escape as well, with Jailiens going after buses and helicopters as they go for gold. The prison is of course fully equipped to stop them with anti air missiles for the chopper escapees and no end of heavily armed riot guards blocking doors and exits. In a party game, Among Us kind of way, you’ll need strong teamwork and communication to get out in one piece.
That this is the work of a single dev is pretty remarkable. Full respect to Two Star Games for running with an idea this ambitious as a one-person operation. It’s hard to get a multiplayer game off the ground, especially for indies. They need big ideas just like this if they want to have any hope of catching on and becoming a success. I hope Cuffbust becomes one because it feels like it has everything it needs to succeed.
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